What happened

With the S&P 500 rising 3.5% in March, many stocks found themselves in the sun. Sunrun (RUN -6.78%), however, was cloaked in clouds. According to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence, shares of Sunrun fell 16.2% in March.

The overall bullish sentiment pervading the markets didn't extend to the residential-solar specialist, which came under investors' scrutiny for several reasons. There were concerns about the company's financial well-being, insider selling, and analyst commentary on the stock.

So what

Arguably, the most pressing concern for investors last month was how Sunrun would fare after regulators closed SVB Financial's Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) on March 10. According to Thefly.com, Sunrun informed investors on that day that the company had "less than $80 million in cash deposits at SVB." Based on its fourth-quarter 2022 financial report wherein the company reported cash of $741 million, the deposits at SVB presumably represented more than 10% of its cash on hand.

Although investors would later learn that the government would back up uninsured deposits at SVB -- such as those belonging to Sunrun -- they found the flurry of insider selling that followed the SVB closure unsettling. On March 17, for example, several key members of the company's leadership team reported stock sales.

Danny Abajian, Sunrun's CFO, reported selling a combined 781 shares in two different transactions that netted him about $14,584. Edward Harris Fenster, the company's co-executive chair, also trimmed his position, selling 39,582 shares in several transactions for more than $757,491. The other co-executive chair (and also a co-founder of the company), Lynn Jurich, also clicked the sell button, unloading 6,388 shares for about $117,717.

Contributing further to investors' concerns, several analysts weighed in on Sunrun's stock throughout the month. On March 9, Vikram Bagri, an analyst at Citigroup, initiated coverage on Sunrun's stock with a neutral rating and a $27 price target.

More decisively bearish outlooks came later in the month, however, as analysts at RBC Capital and Goldman Sachs both cut their price targets on Sunrun's stock. While RBC Capital reduced its price target to $34 from $42, Goldman Sachs took a more bearish approach, slashing its price target to $27 from $37.

Now what

Clearly, there weren't a lot of blue skies for Sunrun investors last month, and April is offering more of the same. Shares are down nearly 7% since the start of the month, as of this writing.

At this point, renewable energy investors considering Sunrun as a way to power their portfolios should tread cautiously and be mindful of the risks surrounding the company, including its inability to generate cash flow. Until Sunrun shows it can generate organic cash flow -- or at least make progress toward doing so -- only those with ample tolerance for risk should consider a position.